Grading Problems With Regents Exams Delay Some Diplomas

The Chelsea Career and Technical Education High School held its graduation ceremony on Friday, but with delays in grading Regents exams, not all participating students were able to receive their diplomas.Credit
Michael Appleton for The New York Times

The computer system, created by McGraw-Hill Education as part of a $9.6 million contract over three years, broke down this week, leaving students and teachers anxiously awaiting results. Passing grades on Regents exams in English, science, math and history are required for graduation in most public high schools. Students can retake an exam even after the school year ends in order to get a diploma; the next round of tests is given in August.

Erin Hughes, a spokeswoman for the city’s Education Department, said the city would hire extra teachers for the weekend so that exams could be graded before the school year ends on Wednesday. She said that the problem affected fewer than 3 percent of the roughly 57,000 seniors and that each year there was a relatively small number of students who received their scores, and their diplomas, after graduation ceremonies.

“We anticipated there to be bumps,” Ms. Hughes said, noting that the city had originally set a deadline of this coming Monday to have all tests graded. “Things are moving more slowly than we had hoped.”

The problem occurred as teachers began grading essay questions for a science exam known as Living Environment and two social studies tests, Global History and Geography and U.S. History and Government. (Not every Regents exam is required for graduation.)

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The exams were shipped to Connecticut to be scanned, where a computer system experienced “intermittent slowdowns,” a spokesman for McGraw-Hill, Brian Belardi, said. He said the company had been working “around the clock” to remedy the issues.

The city comptroller, John C. Liu, said he was considering an audit. Mr. Liu, who is running for mayor, said that the city should recoup the $3.5 million it had already paid McGraw-Hill this year and that the exams should be invalidated.

“It is unconscionable that students, families and schools should suffer through fake graduations because their Regents grades are unknown,” Mr. Liu said in a statement.

Ernest A. Logan, president of the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, the city’s principals’ union, said the city needed to improve its oversight of outside contracts.“Once again, they’ve messed up, and now we’re left to clean it up,” Mr. Logan said. “This should be a time of celebration for our students.”

At Chelsea High, 4 of 77 seniors were affected by the scoring troubles, the school’s principal, Brian Rosenbloom, said.

As he snapped pictures with friends, Carlton said he was proud to take part in the graduation ceremony, even though his test results were in limbo. He plans to attend Fulton-Montgomery Community College in the fall and study criminology.

He said he had a word of advice for city officials. “They need to get it together for the next graduating class,” he said.

A version of this article appears in print on June 22, 2013, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Grading Problems With Regents Exams Delay Some Diplomas. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe